The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-08-20
DIR. sEARLE ON TOBACCO.


 August Dr. W. s. Searle has paper on "Sedentary Men and Stimulants." The following extract may prove something of a surprise to people who are apt to permit fanatics to do their thinking:
 Ut is not a little remarkable that tobacco, one of the least harmful of these substances, should have been so long and loudly decried. From the 'counterblast' of King James to the fulminations of the latest gathering of the clergy, the diatribes uttered against its use have been equaled only by the denunciations of alcohol In these, many physicians who should know better, have heartily joined. And yet, in spite of this not only, but ill defiance of its nauseous properties and of the disgusting forms in which it has often been used, the universal ity of it's adoption by the race speak volumes for it's peculiar adaptation to the demands of life.
 "Quite incapable of producing the collaborating effects of alcohol, mildly ihtlNOtiN OiilN 0S SOID " ith ODtulll and other substances of this class, al- most destitute of power to give pleas urable sensations or to excite the emo- tions, it's acceptance by man has no parallel in quickness and extent, its hold upon him is absolute, and its popularity ever continues to increase. It appeals equally to the savage, to the civilized, and to all classes ill the community. And for these truly wonderful facts there is no conceiv- able sufficient explanation, exept this, viz: that it is, of all others, the para triptic which best meets the demands of customary life, is best adapted to the habits of men, and is practically found to produce but slight injurious results.
 "Certainly most of the bad effects which have been charged to its excess i've and continued use are either en- tirely undeserved or greatly exagger- ated
 "It is matter for we'll merited aston- ishment that even men of discernment are so ready often to select a single one out of the endless chain of causes, and attribute to it alone certain results. Surely of all sciences etiology is least entitled to respect. And no more glaring example of the foolish facility men, toned exists than that common even among eminent oculists, who charge upon the excessive use of tobacco a certain form of atrophy of the optic nerve. And this they persist in do- ing, even though that opinion is based upon a mere supposition, and although competent colleagues of their own, re- siding in countries like Turkey, where the ordinary use of tobacco fully equals what we should term great eX- cess, declare that this form of disease of the eye is there utterly unknown. There are nations where the smoking of tobacco is begun by infants before they can walk, and where the habit is universal, and were these wiseacres correct in their etiology, the entire adult population ought logically to be blind.
 "EG Ma0 dsSce OmneS. Not single charge brought against tobacco has better basis. With great wisdom it is remarked how much better health some individual has attained since ceasing to use tobacco. But any de- cisive change in ng-continued habits even what are termed good habits" is often temporarily beneficial. The great curative principle of change is what has been successfully appealed to here-the most powerful, and, in fact, broadly considered, the only existing curative principle.
 "ln estimating the true influence of tobacco and its congeners, it is mani festly unfair to consider individual in- stances of their use. Only by taking masses of men who for years are under control as to their diets and habits. and who, therefore, live upon equal terms, can we approximate a fair ec | "so. And in this regard there could be no test more equitable than that made by Sir John Sinclair, and re- corded in his Code of Health re- gently published. In the pension hos pitals of England Sir John found one hundred and fifty men over eighty years of age. Fifteen of them were over ninety, and four over one hum dred. These formed the remnant of the armies of England. The rest were dead, and of these survivors all but two had been consumers of "the weed" all their lives. It may be added that the use of tobacco by smoking forms the most desirable paratriptic for the dyspeptic, as it decidedly assists diges- tion by stimulating the secretion of gastric juice. It appears to be most useful to men of lymphatic tempera- ment, and to disagree most decidedly with those of highly developed ner- vous organizations.